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Bose Drops NIL Gift Bonanza

Bose announced its inaugural class of six student-athletes that it has signed to NIL deals. The players will also be able to gift product to their teammates.

Bose, the company long-known as the NFL‘s official headphone sponsor, announced Wednesday that it is entering the NCAA NIL landscape in a significant way.

Team Bose released its inaugural list of six athletes: Michigan defensive end and Heisman Trophy finalist Aidan Hutchinson, Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder, Memphis basketball center Jalen Duren, Alabama wide receiver Jameson Williams, Ohio State quarterback and Heisman finalist CJ Stroud, and Oregon quarterback Anthony Brown.

And during the holidays, Bose is embracing the season of giving with this NIL initiative.

Before the NIL era began in July, peer-to-peer gifting was not allowed among student-athletes. But now, Team Bose will be given either Bose QuietComfort Earbuds and/or QuietComfort 45 headphones to give to their college teammates. The NIL deal runs through the players’ respective seasons.

Michigan defensive end and Heisman Trophy finalist Aidan Hutchinson is officially a Bose NIL athlete.

“After several years of working with NFL players, Olympics athletes, F1 drivers, and others in elite disciplines, this felt like a natural fit,” Bose’s chief marketing officer said Jim Mollica said. “We’re looking forward to fostering our relationships with these young athletes and helping them to perform at their highest level.”

Bose will aim to further support and collaborate with these football and basketball stars both as athletes and as students. And it should be no surprise that this announcement comes just two weeks before Williams and the Crimson Tide take on Ridder and the Bearcats in the College Football Playoff semifinals, while Hutchinson and the Wolverines look to slow down Georgia in the other semi. Hutchinson could be taken as the top overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, while Williams could go in the top 10. Duren is a projected top 10 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, all of which would allow Bose to make major inroads in endorsing the next generation of top professional athletes.

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Shlomo Sprung

Shlomo Sprung is a Senior Staff Writer at Boardroom. He has more than a decade of experience in journalism, with past work appearing in Forbes, MLB.com, Awful Announcing, and The Sporting News. He graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2011, and his Twitter and Spotify addictions are well under control. Just ask him.